Founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer.

In the 1970s, Sire transformed itself into a large independent record label and went on to sign artists from the burgeoning punk and NYC scenes, including the Ramones, the Dead Boys and Talking Heads.

After a brief period of distribution by ABC Records, Sire was acquired by Warner in 1976.

In 1995, Sire was relocated to operate under its sister label Elektra Records, where Stein was appointed president.

Sire later left the Elektra umbrella, but remained at Warner Music Group.

In 2000, Sire Records and the US division of London Records were merged to become London-Sire Records (still part of Warner Music Group). This partnership was dissolved in 2003, at which point the company went back to being called Sire Records.